The thrones and palaces of Babylon and Ninevah from sea to sea; a thousand miles on horseback .. . icisms on ourdress, on our mode of eating, on our intonations, excitedroars of lauojhter amons: the admirino- crowd. Again in the saddle, we passed Khan Mahmoodieh intwo houis, and an hour later we were opposite the unoc-cupied Khan-el-Beer, We all felt the fatigue of the ride,but there was no help for us. No traveler accustomed * Jeremiuli 1., 38. 120 THRONES AND PALACES OF to the roomy, elegant saddle of the West should attemptto use the narrow saddle of the Arab; if he does, he willpay a penal
The thrones and palaces of Babylon and Ninevah from sea to sea; a thousand miles on horseback .. . icisms on ourdress, on our mode of eating, on our intonations, excitedroars of lauojhter amons: the admirino- crowd. Again in the saddle, we passed Khan Mahmoodieh intwo houis, and an hour later we were opposite the unoc-cupied Khan-el-Beer, We all felt the fatigue of the ride,but there was no help for us. No traveler accustomed * Jeremiuli 1., 38. 120 THRONES AND PALACES OF to the roomy, elegant saddle of the West should attemptto use the narrow saddle of the Arab; if he does, he willpay a penalty of indescribable pain. Onward we rodefor two and a half hours, which seemed as many to the illusive atmosphere of Chaldea, the greatKhan-el-Haswah seemed near, yet so for. It was nowfive oclock. We had come just half-way, or a distanceof twenty-seven miles. The sun was declining; the airwas growing chilly, and safety required us to halt forthe night. Reining our jaded horses up to the greatkhan, we gladly dismounted, and prepared for a nightslodgings with the beasts of the ^ THE KHAN. But what a place to sleep in, especially for a lady!As the pencil is more effective than the pen in conveyingan idea of a khan, the accompanying sketch, from a pho-tograph taken on the spot, will enable you to conceivethe more readily the appearance of a hotel on the desertplains of Chaldea. The Khan-el-Haswah is an immenseinclosure, with a wall eighty feet square and twenty feethigh, and built of ancient bricks dug up from the ruinsof nobler structures. Its corners are truncated. The en-trance is a high, semi-cupola; along the front wall is abrick terrace four feet high and as many wide, for trav-elers to rest on during the day. Within the entrance is BABYLON AND NINEVEH. 127 an alcove at each of the four corners, with a brick plat-form four feet high, and sufficiently sj^acious for threepersons to sleep thereon. From these alcoves there ex-tends a covered arched passage-way
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbabylon, bookyear1876
